Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

But first, there's a story in the Star Tribune today that I get a kick out of the headline.

Climate change nearly tripled the size of Boundary Waters wildfires, according to a study out of California.

Not only that, but they are saying that climate change intensifying July's fires contributed to nearly 500 premature deaths.

So they're blaming climate change on a lot of deaths.

The EPA estimates that exposure to PM2.5 leads to as many as 300,000 premature deaths each year in the United States.

And that just the July wildfires alone...

in the Boundary Waters contributed to 500 more premature deaths.

So it's climate change that is causing hundreds of more deaths.

Hi, I'm Nate Todd, Senior Editor at Processing.

Earlier this year, Congress overturned a Biden-era 20-year ban on sulfide ore copper mining in Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Watershed.

This opened the door for Twin Metals Minnesota, a subsidiary of the Chilean mining company Antofagasta, to move forward with plans for an underground copper-nickel mine near near Ely, Minnesota, within the Boundary Waters watershed.

The company's proposal has met with widespread opposition due to concerns over the risk of acid mine drainage and potential impacts to the Boundary Waters.

When you're mining in sulfide material, if you look at what happens around the rest of the country and the rest of the world, you can see that there's a lot more environmental liability with regard to water contamination involved with mining sulfide minerals than there is with oxide mineral mining.

Okay.

And this ore deposit lies within the headwaters of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness watershed.

What makes mining in this location different from sulfide mining projects elsewhere?

I was also really proud of our real-time episodes.

Episode 7, Mining on the Edge of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, and Episode 13, Breaking Big Bend.

These were different and shorter than our regular episodes and much more focused on getting listeners up to speed and activating them to get involved in current issues that matter.

I think public lands are some of our most valuable resources as a nation, and as cliche as it may sound, they are one of America's best ideas.

People like that are proof that if something is happening where you live that you don't like, you don't have to wait for someone else to start fighting.

You've also helped us learn what you want to hear more about.

Mining on the Edge of the Boundary Waters was our most listened to episode, and Breaking Big Bend wasn't far behind.

That tells us that you want to hear these stories while there's still time to change how they end.

Welcome back to Minnesota Matters, I'm Tasha Redel.

Businesses in northern Minnesota and the Boundary Waters are hoping for a break after a difficult year.

Summer wildfires dealt a major blow to the region's tourism industry, and now a forecast for less snowfall could bring another challenge this winter.

How are outfitters preparing for the season ahead? M&N's John Anderson talks with Ely Outfitting Company owner Jason Zaborski.

Jason, let's start with the Boundary Waters and up there in Ely.

And it was a difficult, tragic summer with what happened with wildfires and just the dry conditions.

Let's start with, give our listeners an update on how the recovery is going in the Ely area and also just the progress that businesses are making in getting customers back.

Sure.

And when the time is right, he will give that item to someone else.

With one carbon fiber paddle, that time came on a trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota.

Collecting as a hobby is not uncommon.

Stamps? Yeah, okay, I get it.

I won't sell anything that was given to me.

And at a time that would be made obvious, I need to give that item to someone who is deserving.

One September, I was paddling in the Boundary Waters with my wife and a couple of friends.

We were nearing the end of our trip.

And at a time that would be made obvious, I need to give that item to someone who is deserving.

One September, I was paddling in the Boundary Waters with my wife and a couple of friends.

We were nearing the end of our trip.

In the afternoon, we stopped on a portage, and I realized, I'm hungry.